Enbridge: Putting the Pieces Together

December 8 2015: The Dickinson Press is reporting that two Enbridge pipeline projects are stuck in Minnesota regulatory quagmire: the Sandpiper (new) and Line 3 replacement (it is deteriorating in Wisconsin).

March 10, 2013: under the radar. With the reversal of Enbridge's Line 9 (Detroit, MI/Sarnia, Ontario, to Montreal, Ontaria), Enbridge has options to move Canadian oil to east coast for export to Europe, and Bakken oil to east coast refineries in the US. [The link may be "broken" temporarily; after posting, I put it into draft status to be posted at a later date when it might have more relevance.]

"Fair to say it would be quite high capacity," he said. "If you look at the growth curve of the Bakken, there's no question that a conduit more 100,000 bbls a day, or 150,000 bbls a day, or 200,000 is probably needed."

Enbridge Inc is in talks with refiners and Western Canadian oil producers about establishing new pipeline access to Eastern refineries in a revamp of a concept it floated three years ago, an executive said on Wednesday.

The idea is to ship light crude oil to refineries in Quebec and beyond, which pay higher crude costs due to the wide pricing spread between oil on the Atlantic Coast compared with Western Canadian supply, said Richard Bird, Enbridge's chief financial officer.

Comment: this story plus the IEA's recent panic-release of the SPR suggests refiners are having more and more difficulty getting enough of the "right kind" of oil to their sites.

February 14, 2011: Enbridge Energy pipeline expansion secures 100,000 bpd capacity commitments Co and Enbridge Income Fund Holdings announced that additional shippers have finalized capacity commitments to the Bakken Expansion Program. The expansion program is being undertaken on the Enbridge North Dakota System owned by EEP, and the Enbridge Saskatchewan System, owned by the Enbridge Income Fund. The total cost of the program is expected to be $560 million. The added capacity from this expansion will be 145,000 bpd, of which 25,000 bpd will be available by early 2011 following completion of the Portal Reversal Expansion Project, and the remaining 120,000 bpd by late 2012. Under the applicable regulatory arrangements a maximum of 115,000 bpd can be held by committed shippers and at least 30,000 bpd must be reserved for uncommitted volumes.

Enbridge pipelines ship the bulk of Canada’s oil exports to the United States. The expansion program will be handled through two affiliated companies: Enbridge Energy Partners LP and Enbridge Income Fund Holdings Inc.

The expansion will take the oil to a connection with Enbridge’s main line systems at Cromer, Manitoba, where it can be shipped to refineries in the U.S. Midcontinent and Central Canada.

The company said 25,000 bpd of the new capacity will be available early this year with the remaining 120,000 bpd in place by late 2012.